Acceptance & Lessons From a Dancing Princess
by Promise of Happiness
Summary: "Since when had True Love's Kiss become some kind of magical club initiation?" Or, Emma doesn't like to dance and that includes dancing around uneasy topics. Good thing Barbie's older sister is a lot more blunt then one would think. Captain Swan, but other canon pairings are mentioned.


**I've never written anything for the Once fandom before, and this isn't my best (that's what you get when you're up at 12am with a sudden burst of inspiration) but I really hope you enjoy!  
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She felt ridiculous, she probably looked it too.

"Pay attention please, Miss Swan." Ashlyn, the instructor and — according to the sharing-circle she was forced to participate — eldest of _twelve freaking sisters_. She knew the Enchanted Forest was old fashioned, to say the least, but she'd assumed there had to be some form of contraception.

(Of course her mother's steadily growing stomach had already proved her wrong.

She didn't want to talk about it.)

Maybe the woman's parents were too frisky for their times.

_Alright, that's enough thinking for today._

Grossing herself out twice in one thought process? She was spending too much time with the pirate.

And of course said pirate is already focused on her. He was _always_ focused on her while she was _always_ two steps behind – quite literally this time.

With an apologetic glance at everyone else for halting their session, she faced her partner just as Ashlyn told her too and willed herself to meet his eyes as steadily as possible.

As expected, they were brimming with amusement. The bastard was laughing at her.

"What?" Emma hissed as soon as the instructor turned her back.

He just chuckled and shook his head, "Come now, love, it's a wedding. No need to be so snappish."

"It's not a wedding, Hook. It's not even a wedding rehearsal." It was a _couples dance class._ She didn't even know Storybrooke had one of those.

Honestly though, she wasn't surprised that everyone was going all out. When the most powerful man in two worlds was marrying the love of his life, it was going to be made into a big, town wide deal.

Not literally a _deal_, though, because Belle had freaked when she found out her betrothed had been planning on bribing both David and Eric (most likely for Ariel's sake… the mermaid had taken the whole maid of honor/best man thing a tad too seriously) with one of his infamous 'favors' in exchange for them agreeing to be his groomsmen.

All of it was to be expected, really. She knew she'd have to suffer through dress fittings and cake testings — she had to force herself to tell the caterers she wasn't hungry that day because she would _not_ go back to pick up her outfit only to find it two sized too small. Regina would never let her live it down.

The one thing that caught her off guard was the dancing, and not even the fact that she had to learn, because, _obviously_. It was the whole couples thing… her eyes landed on each of the other pairs in the room.

Ariel and Eric, Regina and Robin, Ruby and Whale, her parents… herself and Hook.

Since when had 'True Love's Kiss' become some kind of magical club initiation?

Emma snapped back into the present as Hook leaned in conspiratorially with a teasing smirk. "Well, I still say you should enjoy yourself. I know I will be."

She rolled her eyes and started to reply with her own brand of sass when she noticed Ashlyn approaching them.

"I'm so sorry if I'm interrupting..." _Not sorry enough to not interrupt._ "But I understand this could be a sensitive matter and I didn't want to bring it up to the whole class..." The woman trailed off awkwardly, then gestured to Hook. "Traditionally we teach our male beginners to hold onto their partner's right hand with their left, and I see that may be a problem here?"

Just like that, the lighthearted atmosphere around them crackled with tension.

As she watched Hook deflate for a moment before he managed to throw on an indifferent facade, Emma suddenly wanted to tell the instructor to shove her traditions back into that one Barbie movie.

Then she realized how stupid that sounded and refrained from making an ass of herself.

Besides, it probably wasn't right to blame her anyway. She supposed it was a valid concern, didn't have to like it though.

Ashlyn continued nervously, dreading the discussion just as much the two in front of her. "I could change the routine up a bit, if you'd prefer, it wouldn't make much of a difference either way. We only try to impose the which-hand-goes-where thing because it helps us keep organized and it really just looks neater..."

She was rambling now, and she seemed to be completely aware of how foolish she sounded if her flaming cheeks were anything to go by.

"I assume that would be the best–" Hook began, but she swiftly cut him off.

"No, that's okay. We're good here."

They both looked so shocked she almost laughed.

"O-oh alright, then..." The instructor strode to the head of the room and stood in front of a full length mirror that stretched along the entire wall. Confidence suddenly radiated from her as she called the rest of the class to attention.

Hook leaned towards her again, eyebrow raised in a way that somehow managed to look both condescending and self deprecating at the same time. "Lass, I don't know why you did that. Clearly I cannot hold your bloody hand."

Shame was pooling behind his eyes, expertly masked but she could see it. _That's_ why she did it. "Relax, it'll be fine."

Each couple did as told and stepped towards their partners. Emma took his right hand in her left and led it to her waist, then wrapped her arm around his shoulder. He watched her warily, face open and vulnerable, as she curled her fingers around his hook and held it tightly in position, unflinchingly.

"See?" She said with an easy smile, then leaned up on her toes and pecked him on the lips. "Good form."

He laughed loud enough to grab the attention of the other dancers, but she didn't mind. Much.

Her mother in particular stared at them with that_ look _again. Like she was so overwhelmed that her daughter was finally happy and she just wanted to talk about it all the time.

(Emma kind of wanted to talk about it too. Not that she would.

Not without the proper amount of alcohol in her system, anyway.)


End file.
